Chapter Text
The last day of summer vacation.
All of your friends had already either gone back to their respective homes or dorms, leaving you staring up at the ceiling of your own lonesome apartment bedroom. Your roommate, Claire, was already fast asleep, meaning you were left to your own devices. You tossed and turned in your bed, but to no surprise, your insomnia had left you without sleep for another hour.
It would be 1AM soon and doomscrolling on social media wouldn’t have done anything good for you.
Fuck…
You sat up in your bed, staring at the empty streets and quiet parking lot. There was probably some bar still open nearby, right? Quickly, you pulled on some jeans, t-shirt, and your favorite jacket before silently leaving the apartment, hoping that Claire nor her cat would get disturbed out of their slumbers.
The only bar within a 10-mile radius from your apartment was thankfully open. You hadn’t visited often; maybe only once or twice to celebrate yours and Claire’s 21sts. Inside, there were only a couple of people huddled in a corner, snickering and drinking over some card games and someone hunched over the bar. You decided not to wanna get in the way of either party, leading you to sit a couple of seats down from the hunched-over man at the bar.
“Excuse me, could I get a drink over here please? No rush, though,” you asked, raising your dominant hand.
The bartender, an older looking woman, gave you a sweet, tired smile before sauntering over to you. “Don’t worry, sweetie, it’s usually slow this time of night here. Whatcha want?”
You bit your lip, unsure of this bar’s drink choices. “Um… got any nightcaps?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I’ll try and whip something up for you.”
While you waited for your drink, your attention wavered over to the man with his head on the bar. His head was turned away from you; he looked like a dirty-blond… maybe brunet? Whatever the in-between of those two were. You wondered if he had a similar problem like you.
You were broken out of your thoughts when the bartender gently set down your nightcap in front of you.
“You didn’t drive here, did ya, sweetheart?”
You shook your head.
“Just be careful. I can call you an uber if need be. I’ll just put it on your tab.”
“That’s awfully kind of you…” you mumbled, sipping on your drink.
“It’s what any sensible woman would do.”
You continued to nurse your drink, idly listening into whatever was playing on the TV above you. After a few minutes, the man two seats down from you stirred in his sleep, slowly sitting up. You hadn’t even noticed that he was facing you now. He looked pretty young—maybe even a fellow University student.
“Hey,” the bartender barked at him, slamming her fist atop the polished wood. “This ain’t a damn nursery. Either go home or stay awake, sir.”
The man blinked slowly, giving the bartender a tired look. He then turned over to you, as if sensing your stare, and gave you a deadpan look in return. Your eyes widened as you choked on your nightcap, quickly swiveling back to face the wall of various alcohol in front of you.
“Are ya ignorin’ me, buddy? Are ya hard of hearin’?”
The man looked back at the bartender, simply pulled out a $20 and left the bar in silence. The bartender sighed and collected her payment, looking over to you with a smile coming onto her features once more.
“Sorry ‘bout that, hun. I don’t like people napping at the bar overnight. Even late-night establishments have to close sometime, y’know?”
“No, yeah… I get it…” you set down your glass and pushed it away from you. “How much do I owe you?”
“$13 should cover it.”
You nodded, grabbing a $10, some $1s, and a $5 from your wallet—practically everything you had on you—and set it down on the counter. “Keep the change… good luck.”
You left the bar and suddenly felt the cold night air against your flushed cheeks, making you shiver. The man from the bar was gripping the metal pole tightly, his veins protruding out of the back of his hand.
“Are… are you okay? Are you drunk?” you asked, hesitating to approach the man.
He looked back over to you and just stared as his baby blues pierced into your soul.
“Not anymore.”
“T—To which question…?”
“Both.”
Okay, edgelord.
“Do you need help standing up?”
He shook his head, slowly letting go of the pole. Now properly standing up, it was clear he had a few good inches on you.
You told him your name, curious to see if he was still a student like you were. “Do you… go here?”
“Huh? Oh, you meant… am I a student?”
You nodded.
“Technicially, yeah.”
“Aren’t you gonna introduce yourself?” you asked, crossing your arms.
“Leon.”
“Why are you out drinking so late, Leon? Classes officially start tomorrow.”
“Who are you—my mom? And you’re one to talk…”
“I… just couldn’t sleep.”
“Oh yeah? Same here. You’re not special.”
“Okay, I don’t know what stick you have up your ass, but I would appreciate it if you weren’t so…”
“Rude?”
“Disrespectful!”
Leon let out a crude laugh, now mirroring your pose. “You’re kinda cute.”
“Excuse me?”
“You got a cute face,” he repeated a bit louder this time. “Need I repeat it a third time, grandma?”
You frowned. “Are you always this infuriating towards girls?”
“Only the ones worth bothering,” he winked.
“Gross.”
“I saw you staring, earlier. Eyeing me like I’m some drunk bum.”
“Hey—your words, not mine.”
He offered his hand out to you. “Wanna get outta here?”
You grimaced at his hand, acting as if he were offering you a piece of shit. “I’m sorry?”
“C’mon, it’s cold out here. I’ll take you somewhere warm.”
“I’m not dumb.”
“I never said you were, darling.”
You weighed your options: on one hand, he was cute. On the other, what if he was a serial killer or worse, a rapist. Or… would the murderer have been worse? Either way, there was no way in hell you were going to follow this randomass cute boy h—
The blaring chime of your phone alarm woke you up, but it sounded further away than usual. You groaned, sticking your hand out to try and shut it off, but to your avail, it wasn’t on your usual nightstand.
Wait a sec…
You squinted your eyes, trying to wake up, only to slowly realize that this wasn’t your bed, nor was this your apartment. Surely you weren’t actually naive enough to follow a stranger home last night…
You got out of bed to look around for the guy. What was his name again? Leonard? Luke?
Never mind that, you had your first class in…
Your eyes went wide. Shit—it started twenty minutes ago.
You quickly scrambled to get your things and shoes on before rushing out of the mystery man’s apartment. You were lucky that he lived a quick 10-minute bus-ride from campus, but God if you ever bumped into him again, you’d be sure to give him a mouthful. As you quietly slipped into your Intro to Law lecture, you let out a sigh of relief as there were a few empty seats still at the very top of the lecture hall.
Class was a blur, as your Google Docs was just a crude list of sparse notes you took during lecture and texting Claire about what happened last night. Now you owed her a coffee.
Looking down at your phone to look over your new schedule for the next few months, you had the oh-so long gap of thirty minutes before your next lecture. This meant that you should just get ahead of schedule to find the classroom, knowing your geographically challenged self would somehow get lost despite the fact that you’ve been attending the same university for the past four years. Details, details…
“There you are! I was worried sick, y’know, when I woke up to only Antonio!”
You threw your keys and phone onto the counter before staring at your roommate. “You named the stray… ‘Antonio?’ No offense, Claire, but I thought you’d name him something like… I don’t know, food-related.”
The brunet picked up the grey tabby, cooing at his boba eyes. “It’s okay… I’ll get Ant neutered. Isn’t that right, ya cutie?"
“Right. Well…”
“You,” she put Ant down, now pointing at your chest. “Have to explain yourself. What exactly happened last night?”
“I… honestly don’t know. I remember I went down to that bar… had a nightcap, talked to some guy for like two minutes, and then I blacked out I guess.”
“And you just so happened to wake up in some unknown person’s place? Are you sure you weren’t drugged or something?”
“I mean, I—I feel fine, Claire. I just… woke up tired. Like usual. And I had all of my clothes on.”
“What if that perv just put them back on you?”
“To be honest, that just sounds like too much work. I doubt someone would go to those lengths just to get some.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know… there are some real sick fucks out there.”
“Anyways, I… unfortunately have homework already.”
“Sheesh, what ever happened to Syllabus Day?”
“I don’t think that exists for my Law Professor. Old guy can barely even read off his own syllabus without zooming it in like two-hundred-percent.”
Claire pat your shoulder. “You gonna pull an all-nighter in the first week?”
“Fuck no. I have a discussion section in the morning. I’ll just… chug some coffee and do it there.”
The next morning, as you bid Antonio and Claire goodbye for the day, you made the short commute to campus and found the building where your discussion section was to be taking place. Of course, you arrived a couple minutes early to scope out your unofficial official seat. After choosing your seat, you slowly saw your classmates spilling into the room until a familiar head of dirty blond hair made you do a double-take.
You were taking the same course as your mystery bar guy?! Crap.
Wait, why was he going up to the front of the room? Shit.
“Morning, class. Sorry I’m a couple minutes late. Had to run across campus real quick for something. Anyways, I’m Leon, and I’ll be your TA for your Intro to Law class.”
Fuck.